Chapter Text
The Narrator was quiet again. Stanley couldn’t help his eyes darting to the inhuman, near-silent form. Despite his lack of words he was moving a slight bit. Shortly after Stanley walked in the room and sat down, he noticed the Narrator inching closer and closer and then… he stopped.
He was so quiet sometimes nowadays. Stanley almost missed him proclaiming his every thought. Not even almost. He did miss it.
It was a while before he finally heard something though.
“Closeness is a rather odd concept, isn’t it Stanley?”
Now Stanley turned his head fully to look at the Narrator. Who in turn shifted a bit and looked away.
“What I mean is, I don’t think I fully… understood it before I had a body. You know I thought that when we were in the parable, we were as close as could be! At least, as close as I thought was necessary in a physical sense. You were always there. And then there was me, and I was sort of-” He gestured vaguely with his hands. “Around. Not there necessarily. But I was nearby. I followed you. That’s all that really mattered.”
Stanley nodded. Part of him wanted to wait. To see where this was going. He already had some idea though, and he found himself moving closer in the same way the Narrator had been earlier. To Stanley’s slight amusement the other man didn’t even notice. Just kept going, now that he was in the flow of his idea.
Stanley missed that. Seeing how the Narrator really got into a thought. The ways he would chew on it, and what he’d put back out again.
“In some ways, I thought we were as close as two people could be,” The Narrator continued. “Maybe not in other ways. Mentally, in some ways I felt… well, rather distant. Even though on occasion I could read your thoughts, other times I felt utterly unaware of what you were feeling or thinking. But still, I felt we were close. And then… you left.”
Stanley stiffened a bit. Stopped his movements.
“I…” Stanley began, but the Narrator waved a hand.
“You don’t have to explain yourself Stanley. I’ve already asked you to do enough of that. But it… it changed things. I just couldn’t feel you anymore. Your presence. Your thoughts. And at times, all I wanted was to feel that again. So I came here. And then… I became physical and…”
The Narrator began patting his leg. Fidgeting. Looking for the right words, Stanley could tell. Still not meeting the human’s gaze. His body somewhat hunched over, almost as if he was avoiding something. Finally he spoke again.
“I know I’m not fully human, but let me reiterate, having a physical body really illuminates just how strange the human experience is. I mean, it’s just… I can’t feel you Stanley. Not unless I’m touching you. It’s hard to explain to someone whose experience of existence is as limited as a human’s, but before I was able to sort of sense you . Where you were. It’s how I followed you from room to room, by clinging onto my perception of you and following it.”
Well, it was certainly true that Stanley didn’t fully understand that. Or what it meant. But he would like to think he got the gist and he nodded. In a sense, maybe he had felt the same thing but just forgotten about it. It had been so long…
“And you know-” the Narrator said. “Well, I-I don’t know if it’s just that or something else, but now I don’t feel close enough to you. I want to be closer . I got you back but I don’t feel like I have you, I don’t-”
It was at that moment that he looked at Stanley once more. It was at that moment that he suddenly noticed how close they were now. Mere inches apart.
“What way do you want to have me?” Stanley asked. He already had an answer in mind but he didn’t want to say it himself. “How do you think we can be closer?”
A very strange noise emerged from the Narrator’s open mouth, and he quickly slapped a hand over it, before looking away again. Stanley was unsure if the Narrator needed to breathe, but he noticed his chest rising and falling. Heard a long, heavy exhale.
“I just… well…” He looked at Stanley again. “Don’t look at me like that! It’s hard to say. This isn’t easy Stanley, I've never had to ask something like this before.”
“Look at you like what?”
“Oh you know. You have this one look, I really don’t know what it means but I’m quite sure it’s nothing good.”
Stanley couldn’t help a snort of laughter. “How do you know that?”
“Well I… hm. I suppose I don’t really know. Just a feeling.”
The two went quiet again for a bit. The Narrator tapped his fingers. He really seemed to be considering something.
“...I don’t want to sleep alone anymore Stanley,” he finally said.
Stanley blinked. That wasn’t exactly what he had expected. “Oh!”
“It’s just, it makes it much easier for me to forget where I am when I’m alone in that bed. To wake up and think that maybe you aren’t there anymore. That’s another thing actually. I suppose not having to sit and experience every wasted moment can be nice, but sleeping- or rather, waking up- is quite jarring. Just going unconscious and gaining consciousness again, now who thought that was a good idea?”
Stanley smiled. “It just sort of happens. But if it makes you feel better to not wake up alone I’d be happy to share my bed. I honestly kind of miss it.”
“Miss sharing your bed?! Who have you-”
“I meant sleeping in it,” Stanley interrupted. “I've been sleeping on the couch since you got here.”
“Ah. Right, that makes more sense.”
“You thought I might’ve shared my bed with someone else?” Stanley found himself chuckling at the misunderstanding. “Honestly, who would even want to sleep with me?”
“Well I would obviously-” The Narrator realized what he was saying. “I mean- in the sense that I don’t really mind- no, no don’t get the wrong idea, I mean this in a strictly non-erotic sense when I say I would not mind sleeping with you.”
“Right, right! Of course. I know that. I understand what you mean. In a… platonic sense.”
“Yes. That’s… that’s how I meant it.”
Both of them knew that was a lie.
But they stayed quiet about it. For now.